St. Nicholas Church, Great Yarmouth
St. Nicholas in Great Yarmouth, is the largest parish church in England. Sadly, it was closed when I arrived in the afternoon on the way back to the station, but I was still able to walk in the churchyard.
The Sea-Front, Great Yarmouth
As I was brought up partly in Felixstowe, I know how bad and decayed some of our old resorts can be. Here are a few pictures of the sea-front at Great Yarmouth.
It was clean and plesant and quite different to other old resorts, that I’ve visited recently.
Towards the Sea Front
Great Yarmouth lies on a spit of land, with the Quay on the River Yare at the back and the sea at the front. It was a pleasant walk between the two, although it was starting to get a bit cold.
There was this theatre, St. George’s.
St. George's Theatre, Great Yarmouth
I then walked through a very pleasant formal park.
St. George's Park, Great Yarmouth
Finally, I arrived at the sea-front after walking through pleasant streets and this late Victorian arcade.
Arcade, Great Yarmouth
I emerged by the Empire Theatre.
Empire Theatre, Great Yarmouth
Note the front of the arcade at the left. Sadly, it’s rather full of the sorts of things I don’t like, like a casino and slot machines.
A Working Quay, Great Yarmouth
The South Quay may be historic and it has a couple of museums, including one to Nelson, but it is also very much a working one.
I only walked from the Lydia Eva down the quay for perhaps a hundred metres, as the weather looked to be on the turn and I really didn’t want to get wet.
The signs were also upon the Quay for the Tour of Britain, as Thursday’s stage finishes in the town.
The Last of the Hunters
In the 1960s, there was a series of adverts for fish, which used the slogan, “Fish! The only food you go out and hunt!”
On the South Quay in Great Yarmouth today, was the Lydia Eva, the last of the steam drifters, that used to dominate herring fishing in the North Sea.
She is now a museum and uniquely a ship that contains a museum, that actually works and goes to sea!
Yarmouth Surprised Me!
Great Yarmouth has problems of things like unemployment and isolation from the rest of Norfolk, let alone England, and C always found that some of her most harrowing and difficult cases came from the town.
I suspect too, we often think of it as a fading seaside resort, with all those things like kiss-me-quick hats, greasy fish and chips, donkeys and amusement machines.
But as I walked through the town after lunch I was pleasantly surprised at what I saw! It certainly didn’t fit the stereotype.
The Market Place, Great Yarmouth
The Market Place was busy, with lots of people shopping and quietly drinking. I’m not a great one for markets, so I passed on to through the historic Rows to the South Quay.
South Quay, Great Yarmouth
Lunch at the Seafood Restaurant, Great Yarmouth
I had lunch at the Seafood Restaurant on North Quay, which was an easy walk from the station.
The Seafood Restaurant, Great Yarmouth
I had an excellent lunch in a friendly atmosphere. And it was all gluten-free too!
A Nifty Information System
When I left, I forgot to take my printout of the return journeys from Great Yarmouth to Newmarket.
The conductor said that was no problem and promptly printed me an itinerary on his ticket machine.
Itinerary Printed on a Train
Some people would say that was seriously cool! I Just think it’s good software design, that gives customers what they need!
Senior Travellers,Racegoers and Pub-Crawlers
As Free As Lark had been pulled out of the race at Great Yarmouth today, I was at a loss about what to do, as I’d quite fancied the trip on a train to the wilds of Norfolk.
So I went anyway!
I was dropped at Dullingham station a few minutes before ten, with the intention of catching the first of three trains, that would get me to my destination by just after twelve after changes at Stowmarket and Norwich. And all for a return ticket price of just £9.20 after my Senior Railcard discount.
At the next station, Newmarket, the train filled up considerably. There was a lot of chatter and I felt there were a couple of parties going like myself to Yarmouth, but to the races. It was all very civilised and friendly, and I suspected that many like me were travelling on Senior Railcards.
As I got off the train at Stowmarket, I was recognised by one of C’s morning swimming companions. He asked how I was doing and said that he was going to the races at Yarmouth. He also added that one of the parties on the train, were a group going for a pub crawl in Ipswich and Felixstowe.
But it all goes to show how train travel is changing. Many of the travellers, myself probably included, would never have used a train for these journeys a few years ago.
Another change was that the two changes at Stowmarket and Norwich took just a couple of minutes. The last time, I’d attempted something similar, I’d had to wait a lot longer. I think that the scheduling is better and this is helped by much better time-keeping. I can’t remember when one of the trains between Ipswich and Cambridge was seriously late.
I also found out that you can get a go-anywhere in East Anglia ticket called an Anglia Plus One Day Pass. It’s just a pity that Beeching removed some of the important links between the railways in East Anglia.
So how can we improve things further? Cambridge to Ipswich has one one-coach train and one two-coach one to operate the schedule. National Express East Anglia do their best, but they struggle to provide enough capacity on the line. I suspect it’s the same on other lines in East Anglia! We need more trains and perhaps a couple of three-coach ones too, to handle rush hours to and from Ipswich and Cambridge! An hourly service calling at all stations would be good and with promised station improvements at Ipswich and Cambridge, this might be possible. Perhaps the service could be extended at the Ipswich end to Harwich and/or Felixstowe!
With a new franchise up for grabs, we can only hope!
Free As A Lark Runs at Great Yarmouth Today
She’s in the 15:20. She may have a chance and if you have Sky, the race will be on At The Races (Channel 415)!
I’ll be going by train from Dullingham and I’m also hoping to look at Norfolk’s cut-off Eastern outpost.
No she doesn’t as the ground has got too soft! But I’m still going to the town to have lunch and a look round!
The Anonymous Widower 